The World Economic Forum estimates that 50 percent of all employees will need reskilling by 2025. And with nearly 10 million Americans currently unemployed, COVID-19 has accelerated the need for programs that help people upskill or reskill into new careers. At Google, we believe that economic opportunity should be available to everyone, and through our Grow with Google initiative, we've invested in building programs, products, and training to help create pathways to high-quality jobs.
A central part of this work is our Google Career Certificate program. Google Career Certificates help people from all backgrounds get access to in-demand jobs in high-growth fields. Designed and taught by Google employees, this self-paced, online training program prepares people for new careers in the fast-growing fields of project management, user experience (UX) design, data analytics, IT support, and Android development. No experience or degree is required to enroll and learners can complete the program in three-to-six months.
Since the launch of our Google IT Support Certificate in 2018, more than 50,000 people have graduated from the program, and 82 percent report positive career outcomes within six months of completion - such as a new job, enhanced skills, a promotion, or a raise. Rey Justo is a program graduate who was able to transition to a new career after losing his job during the pandemic. He always had a passion for technology, but fitting in college courses to pursue it wouldn’t work with his family life and fulltime job. He decided to enroll in the Google IT Support Certificate through Merit America. “I knew everything that I was learning throughout the course was relevant to the IT industry. It just gave me a level of confidence I'd never had before,” Rey said.
After Rey completed the course, he was hired as an apprentice at Zennify, a computer software company. “The Google Career Certificates program opened up so many doors in the IT field for me that were not open before. After I received my certificate, I was getting interview requests the next day,” Rey said.
To help graduates like Rey find competitively paid jobs, we’ve formed an employer consortium. We work with top employers across industries, like Infosys, Better.com, Snap, Accenture, Deloitte and of course, Google, and connect them to graduates of the Google Career Certificate program. There are over 130 local and national employers in the consortium who are looking to hire qualified program graduates for open roles.
Members of our employer consortium can connect with skilled candidates, many from nontraditional backgrounds, and grow their diverse talent pipeline. Participating employers will also be able to participate in interview days, send emails about their open roles to program graduates, and review learner profiles on our exclusive job board. Additionally, employers will get recognition with a “Google Participating Employer” digital badge that they can share publicly.
We are continuing to build and broaden the employer consortium in an effort to help create an equitable and inclusive job market. Interested employers of all sizes can learn more and join for free at grow.google/employers.
Learn more about Google Career Certificates
Learn more about the Chamber Foundation's Workforce Initiatives
About Grow with GoogleGrow with Google helps ensure that the opportunities created by technology are available to everyone. Through free tools and training, we’ve trained six million people on digital skills they can use to find the jobs they want, advance their careers and grow their businesses.
